JOHN MCCAIN IS DEAD - POLITICAL BATTLE FOR HIS SEAT BEGINS BEFORE HE IS EVEN BURIED:
AUGUST 29, 1936 - AUGUST 25, 2018
MCCAIN LEFT BEHIND MIXED POLITICAL LEGACY, HOWEVER HE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO REST IN PEACE AND STILL HONORED FOR HIS U.S. MILITARY SERVICE.
I SEND MY PRAYERS AND CONDOLENCES TO HIS FAMILY.
Post Sources: ABC News, BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, Youtube
****** John McCain's death means potential legal battle to fill his Senate seat
With the news that Arizona Senator John McCainhas passed away due to complications from brain cancer, the speculation over who will succeed him in the position he has held since 1987 has begun in earnest.
The timing of McCain’s death results in a complicated process that could end up in a court battle in a state that will be key to determining the balance of power in the U.S. Senate this midterm cycle.
According to Arizona state law, the governor appoints a replacement for any vacancy in a U.S. Senate seat who will hold it until the "next eligible general election."
That person must belong to the same political party of the person who held the seat.
That means Doug Ducey, Arizona's Republican governor, would appoint a Republican to fill McCain's seat until the next general election or until the governor decided to call a special election.
However, the most relevant piece of election code in this situation is that the candidate filing deadline for the election cannot be fewer than 90 days before a primary for that special election.
The State of Arizona Election Procedures Manualstipulates that the vacancy "must occur sufficiently before" that deadline to gather signatures to get on the primary ballot.
Since the Arizona primaries will be held this Tuesday, the filing deadline for candidates would have had to have been May 30 for a special election to comply with state law.
So even though the next general election in Arizona is in November, the timing of McCain’s passing likely ensures that whomever Ducey appoints to replace him will serve until 2020, the next general election year.
Matt Roberts, the communications director for the Arizona Secretary of State, confirmed to ABC News that under state election regulations, Ducey can appoint a replacement that will serve in McCain’s seat until 2020.
Democrats could challenge that relevant portion of state election guidance to try and force a special election in 2018, which would put both of the state's Senate seats up this cycle since retiring Sen. Jeff Flake's seat is also up.
When asked about potential plans to pursue legal action to force a special election in 2018, a spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic Party declined to comment on the subject, instead telling ABC News, "John McCain is an American hero and our thoughts are with him and his family at this difficult time."
A special election this year would force Republicans to defend two Senate seats this cycle in a state Donald Trump won by just four percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.
JOHN MCCAIN'S RECOVERY & RETURN TO US SENATE REQUIRES LONG SHOT MIRACLE:
MCCAIN IS NOW BEING COMPARED TO THE LATE US SENATOR TED KENNEDY WHO DIED OF BRAIN CANCER IN 2009.
WILL A SPECIAL ELECTION BE HELD IN ARIZONA TO REPLACE MCCAIN?
WHEN??
Sources: ABC News, Fox News, NY Times, State of the Nation, Youtube
***** Despite cancer diagnosis, McCain says, 'I'll be back soon'
Battling brain cancer, John McCain on Thursday vowed to return to the Senate, leveling fresh criticism at the Trump administration and aiming a good-natured dig at Republican and Democratic colleagues shaken by news of his diagnosis.
"I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support — unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I'll be back soon, so stand-by!" McCain said in a tweet. Showing no signs of stepping back from political and national security battles, he issued a statement slamming the Trump administration over its Syria policy.
The 80-year-old McCain, the GOP's presidential nominee in 2008 and a six-term Arizona lawmaker, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, who had removed a blood clot above his left eye last Friday.
They also managed to remove all of the tumor that was visible on brain scans.
The senator and his family are considering further treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, as he recuperates at his home in Arizona. President Donald Trump called the senator on Thursday, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
In a blistering statement through his office, McCain criticized the administration over reports that it was ending a program to assist Syrian opposition forces fighting the government of Bashar Assad.
"If these reports are true, the administration is playing right into the hands of Vladimir Putin," said McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Making any concession to Russia, absent a broader strategy for Syria, is irresponsible and short-sighted."
Battling brain cancer, John McCain on Thursday vowed to return to the Senate, leveling fresh criticism at the Trump administration and aiming a good-natured dig at Republican and Democratic colleagues shaken by news of his diagnosis.
"I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support — unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I'll be back soon, so stand-by!" McCain said in a tweet. Showing no signs of stepping back from political and national security battles, he issued a statement slamming the Trump administration over its Syria policy.
The 80-year-old McCain, the GOP's presidential nominee in 2008 and a six-term Arizona lawmaker, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, who had removed a blood clot above his left eye last Friday. They also managed to remove all of the tumor that was visible on brain scans.
The senator and his family are considering further treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, as he recuperates at his home in Arizona. President Donald Trump called the senator on Thursday, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
In a blistering statement through his office, McCain criticized the administration over reports that it was ending a program to assist Syrian opposition forces fighting the government of Bashar Assad.
"If these reports are true, the administration is playing right into the hands of Vladimir Putin," said McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Making any concession to Russia, absent a broader strategy for Syria, is irresponsible and short-sighted."
More significantly, McCain's absence complicated Republican leader Mitch McConnell's plans for a Senate vote on a GOP health care bill to erase much of Barack Obama's law. A vote is possible as early as Tuesday, but Republican defections plus McCain's likely absence could sink any chance even to get started.
McCain's closest friend in the Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said that they had spoken by telephone Wednesday night and that the diagnosis had been a shock to McCain. But Graham said "woe is me" is not in McCain's DNA. "One thing John has never been afraid of is death," said Graham, who said he expects McCain to be back at the Capitol.
Prior to a Thursday news conference on immigration legislation, Graham said McCain called him three times.
"He is yelling at me to buck up, I'm so going to buck up," Graham said.
It was unclear how long McCain might be out. Earlier this year, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., missed several weeks after undergoing back surgery. Former Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., was out for nearly a year after suffering a stroke in 2012.
Meantime, prayers and words of encouragement flowed in Thursday from presidents and Senate colleagues past and present.
"I called Senator John McCain this morning to wish him well and encourage him in his fight.
Instead, he encouraged me," said former President George W. Bush, who prevailed over McCain for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000. "I was impressed by his spirit and determination."
Former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas said: "Having known John for many decades, I am certain that he is as tough as they come — if anyone can defeat this, it's him. John is a true American hero."
According to the American Brain Tumor Association, more than 12,000 people a year are diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same type of tumor that struck McCain's Democratic colleague in legislative battles, the late Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over 55 at about 4 percent.
McCain, a former combat pilot, has a lifetime of near-death experiences — surviving a July 1967 fire and explosion on the USS Forrestal that killed 134 sailors, flying into power lines in Spain, being shot down in October 1967 and falling into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi, and going through 5 1/2 years in a North Vietnamese prison.
"The Hanoi Hilton couldn't break John McCain's spirit many years ago, so Barbara and I know — with confidence — he and his family will meet this latest battle in his singular life of service with courage and determination," said former President George H.W. Bush.
Commenting on both McCain and the response, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said, "The outpouring of bipartisan respect and love for John McCain as he faces this cancer battle reminds us that after all the meanness there is a human side to politicians. Count this Democrat in John McCain's corner."
In the past, McCain had been treated for melanoma, but this primary tumor is unrelated. Doctors said McCain is recovering from his surgery "amazingly well" and his underlying health is excellent.
***** SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO'S REPORT ON OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE INVESTIGATION:
IS THIS INFORMATION WHY ANDREW BREITBART WAS MURDERED?
IS FACEBOOK'S ZUCKERBERG HELPING TO HIDE THE TRUTH??
Sources: WND, Alex Jones, Breitbart News, CNN, Fox News, YouTube
Officials in the office of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County, Arizona, have announced that their news conference set at 4 p.m. on Thursday will be streamlined online on the sheriff’s Facebook page.
WND also is setting up the link so that those who want to know the results of the sheriff’s years-long Cold Case Posse investigation into the document that Barack Obama presented to the nation as his official Hawaiian birth certificate can watch through WND.
Details of what has been uncovered have not been released, although apparently the investigation results will concern the actual document, and not address the bigger questions that accompany the issue, such as the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency.
WND reported earlier that the event was being held.
It is to address the issue that badgered Obama throughout his first term in the Oval Office.
Now it could rain on his legacy.
There already have been investigations into the document, which Obama produced for the public just as the No. 1 bestseller “Where’s The Birth Certificate?”
was combining with a challenge from billionaire businessman Donald Trump to force Obama’s hand.
issue is that the U.S. Constitution requires the president to be a “natural-born citizen” but does not define the term. Scholarly works cited by the Founders defined it as a citizen at birth, born in the country to two citizens of the country, or merely the offspring of two citizens of the country.
The birth certificate Obama displayed on the White House website as “proof positive” of his eligibility states he was born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father.
Some immediately pointed out alleged anomalies, questioning its validity, while others argued it also could prove his ineligibility because his father was not a citizen.
Some of the lawsuits argued Obama was a dual citizen at birth through his father, contending the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born citizens.
WND reported Obama explained he decided to release it because the Internet “chatter” was becoming a “distraction.”
While the issue became known in liberal and left-leaning circles as the biggest “conspiracy” theory of all time, some document experts questioned the validity of the birth certificate Obama released. Arpaio, responding to a petition from his constituents, launched a formal “Cold Case Posse” law enforcement investigation of the document.
In 2012, he held a news conference that concluded there was probable cause to believe the document Obama released as an official government document is a computer-generated forgery.
Mike Zullo, Arpaio’s lead investigator, said at the time his team believed the Hawaii Department of Health engaged in a systematic effort to hide from public inspection any original 1961 birth records it may have in its possession.
The Cold Case Posse at that time advised Arpaio that they believed forgers committed two crimes. First, they say it appeared the White House fraudulently created a forgery that it characterized as an officially produced governmental birth record.
Second, the White House fraudulently presented to the residents of Maricopa County and to the American public at large a forgery represented as “proof positive” of President Obama’s authentic 1961 Hawaii long-form birth certificate.
The investigators also said they had developed credible evidence that Obama’s Selective Service card was a forgery, based on an examination of the postal date stamp on the document.
Also, records of Immigration and Naturalization Service cards filled out by passengers arriving on international flights originating outside the United States in the month of August 1961, examined at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., were missing records for the week of President Obama’s birth.
But Arpaio said then a “continuing investigation” was needed, and his investigators set to work.
Now, Arpaio, who was defeated Nov. 8 in his bid for a seventh term as sheriff, has planned a news conference for Thursday to reveal his team’s final findings.
Ironically, in recent months it’s been Obama, his wife Michelle, Secretary of State John Kerry and even his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who have raised the issue over and over.
It was during an appearance in Nairobi, Secretary of State John Kerry said he thanked the Kenyan president for giving America “a president of the United States” – a comment alluding to the contested issue of where Obama was born.
Kerry told Kenya’s foreign minister he had a conversation with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta concerning the Olympic Games in Rio and President Obama’s birthplace:
I had the pleasure of beginning that meeting [with Kenyatta], as I want to begin this press conference this afternoon, by congratulating Kenya on something no nation’s athletes have ever before accomplished, and that is to win both the men’s and the women’s marathon races at the Olympic Games.
Absolutely extraordinary. When I mentioned that to President Kenyatta, he promptly said to me, “Well, we also had a hand in helping you win a silver because the person who won came from Kenya.” (Laughter.)
“And I said, “Actually, Mr. President, you did better than a silver and a gold. You gave us a president of the United States.” (Laughter.) So you can see we had a very friendly and positive beginning to the conversation.
question at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, during an address in which he urged Americans to elect Clinton.
“You know, there’s been a lot of talk in this campaign about what America’s lost – people who tell us that our way of life is being undermined by pernicious changes and dark forces beyond our control,” Obama said. “They tell voters there’s a ‘real America’ out there that must be restored. This isn’t an idea that started with Donald Trump. It’s been peddled by politicians for a long time – probably from the start of our Republic.
“And it’s got me thinking about the story I told you 12 years ago tonight, about my Kansas grandparents and the things they taught me when I was growing up.
They came from the heartland; their ancestors began settling there about 200 years ago. I don’t know if they had their birth certificates, but they were there.”
The mention of “birth certificates,” which prompted laughter and cheers from the crowd, was a deviation from the president’s prepared remarks, and comes just two nights after his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, brought up the issue of her husband’s citizenship and faith during her speech to the DNC.
At that time, Michelle Obama said one of her jobs in the White House was to teach her daughters “to ignore those who question their father’s citizenship or faith.”
She was referencing the challenges to her husband’s constitutional qualification for office as a “natural born citizen.”
Hillary Clinton “went birther” during a campaign appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina when she tweeted, “Someone who has never forgotten where he came from. And Donald, if you’re out there tweeting: It’s Hawaii.” –Hillary on @POTUS
Among the many records the Obama camp has refused to release are the marriage license of his father (Barack Sr.) and mother (Stanley Ann Dunham), name-change records (Barry Soetero to Barack Hussein Obama),
adoption records,
records of his and his mother’s repatriation as U.S. citizens from Indonesia, baptism records, Noelani Elementary School (Hawaii) records, Punahou School financial aid or school records, Occidental College financial aid records,
Harvard Law School records, Columbia senior thesis, Columbia College records, record with Illinois State Bar Association, files from his terms as an Illinois state senator, his law client list, medical records and passport records.
The Supreme Court on Thursday announced that it had deadlocked in a case challenging President Obama’s plan to shield millions of immigrants from deportation and allow them to work.
The 4-4 tie left in place an appeals court ruling blocking the plan, dealing a sharp blow to an ambitious program that Mr. Obama had hoped would become one of his central legacies.
Instead, even as the court deadlocked, it amplified the already contentious election-year debate over the nation’s immigration policy and presidential power.
The case, United States v. Texas, No. 15-674, concerned a plan to allow as many as five million unauthorized immigrants who are the parents of citizens or of lawful permanent residents to apply for a program that would spare them from deportation and provide them with work permits.
The program was called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA.
Mr. Obama has said he took action in 2014 after years of frustration with Republicans in Congress who had repeatedly refused to support bipartisan Senate legislation to update immigration laws.
A coalition of 26 states, led by Texas, promptly challenged the plan, accusing the president of ignoring administrative procedures for changing rules and of abusing the power of his office by circumventing Congress.
In February 2015, Judge Andrew S. Hanen of Federal District Court in Brownsville, Tex., entered a preliminary injunction shutting down the program while the legal case proceeded.
The government appealed, and a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans affirmed the injunction.
In their Supreme Court briefs, the states acknowledged that the president had wide authority over immigration matters, telling the justices that “the executive does have enforcement discretion to forbear from removing aliens on an individual basis.”
Their quarrel, they said, was with what they called a blanket grant of “lawful presence” to millions of immigrants, entitling them to various benefits.
“Deferred action does not provide these individuals with any lawful status under the immigration laws,” he said. “But it provides some measure of dignity and decent treatment.”
“It recognizes the damage that would be wreaked by tearing apart families,” Mr. Verrilli added, “and it allows individuals to leave the shadow economy and work on the books to provide for their families, thereby reducing exploitation and distortion in our labor markets.”
The states said they had suffered the sort of direct and concrete injury that gave them standing to sue.
Judge Jerry E. Smith, writing for the majority in the appeals court, focused on an injury said to have been suffered by Texas, which he said would have to spend millions of dollars to provide driver’s licenses to immigrants as a consequence of the federal program.
Mr. Verrilli told the justices that Texas’ injury was self-inflicted, a product of its decision to offer driver’s licenses for less than they cost to produce and to tie eligibility for them to federal standards.
Texas responded that being required to change its laws was itself the sort of harm that conferred standing.
“Such a forced change in Texas law would impair Texas’s sovereign interest in ‘the power to create and enforce a legal code,’” the state’s lawyers wrote in a brief.
Judge Hanen grounded his injunction on the Obama administration’s failure to give notice and seek public comments on its new program.
He found that notice and comment were required because the program gave blanket relief to entire categories of people, notwithstanding the administration’s assertion that it required case-by-case determinations about who was eligible for the program.
The appeals court affirmed that ruling and added a broader one. The program, it said, also exceeded Mr. Obama’s statutory authority
Tuesday's primaries and caucuses were a mixed bag as Sen. Bernie Sanders took two states — Idaho and Utah — to Hillary Clinton's lone win in Arizona, and Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz split the Republican races in Arizona and Utah respectively, NBC News projects.
The western state primaries represented another step in efforts to amass support in the race to the nomination, with both Trump and Clinton hoping that they may tally an outright majority of their party's respective delegates before the summer conventions get contentious.
But Cruz and Sanders both got some good news that can help stall the momentum each of their rivals have received with recent wins.
Sanders held a rally shortly after his Arizona loss, touting high turnout.
"When we began this campaign we talked about a need for millions of people to become involved in the political process," Sanders told supporters at a San Diego rally late Tuesday night. "Tonight in Utah, tonight in Idaho, and tonight in Arizona there are record-breaking turnouts."
He did not speak after his Utah win, which was announced at around 1:30 a.m. ET Wednesday. Idaho was not called until just before 2:30 a.m. ET.
Sanders later put out a written statement, saying: "I am enormously grateful to the people of Utah and Idaho for the tremendous voter turnouts that gave us victories with extremely large margins.
The impressive numbers of young people and working-class people who participated in the process are exactly what the political revolution is all about. These decisive victories in Idaho and Utah give me confidence that we will continue to win major victories in the coming contests."
Clinton spoke confidently after her win in Arizona, but made no comment after the two late-night losses.
"I'm also very proud to have won Arizona tonight," Clinton told supporters at a rally in Seattle, Washington. "It's exciting to see that result come in because, you know, Arizona, like Washington, like a lot of the states that are going to be expressing their views and counting their votes in the weeks ahead understand that this is not just a contest between different candidates.
"This is a contest between fundamentally different views of our country, our values and our future," she said.
Democrats will focus next on Saturday's contests in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, although Wisconsin's relatively delegate-rich primary in early April is the next big prize for the remaining candidates on both sides of the aisle. Contests in the northeast — including in Pennsylvania and New York - also loom next month.
Republicans hoping to deprive Trump of a delegate majority plan to push hard for strong showings for Cruz and John Kasich in states that might be favorable to each candidate, but it's far from clear that Trump opponents will be able to slow his steady progress to the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nod.
In a press conference Monday, Trump expressed confidence that he'd reach an outright majority from the remaining primary contests.
"We're going to maybe — easily — make that number," he said.
As of 3:10 a.m. ET, NBC News' delegate count put Clinton at 1637 and Sanders at 928. Trump had 744, with at Cruz 468, Marco Rubio at 172 and Kasich at 143.
MORE CONSERVATIVES & BLUE-COLLAR VOTERS SUPPORTING TRUMP.
BLACK VOTERS ARE COMING ONBOARD TOO.
Joe Arpaio, the hard-line anti-immigration sheriff from Maricopa County, Ariz., will appear with Donald J. Trump in Iowa on Tuesday and endorse his candidacy, according to Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Mr. Arpaio, who espouses some of the Republican Party’s most conservative views about undocumented immigrants, will appear with Mr. Trump in Marshalltown, a month after appearing with Mr. Trump in Arizona. Mr. Trump has made combating illegal immigration a staple of his candidacy, including a proposal to build a wall at the southern border.
“I have great respect for Sheriff Arpaio,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “We must restore law and order and respect the men and women of our police forces. I thank him for his support of my policies and candidacy for president.”
In a statement released by the campaign, Mr. Arapaio said: “Donald Trump is a leader. He produces results and is ready to get tough in order to protect American jobs and families. I have fought on the front lines to prevent illegal immigration. and I know Donald Trump will stand with me and countless Americans to secure our border. I am proud to support him as the best candidate for president of the United States of America.”
Mr. Arpaio’s endorsement is part of Mr. Trump’s closing argument ahead of the Iowa caucuses, focusing on immigration, the issue that helped him dominate the political discussion in 2015.
A day earlier, Mr. Trump’s aides announced that Stephen Miller, an aide to Senator Jeff Sessions of Arizona, is joining his team as a policy adviser. Mr. Sessions is a conservative Republican who has spoken out forcefully against a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
But Mr. Sessions has also been cited by Senator Ted Cruz, Mr. Trump’s main opponent in the Iowa caucuses, as he has fended off questions about his own commitment to dealing with the subject of undocumented immigrants.
As the nation reels from another stunning act of terror delivered by one of our own, I wonder-- what is behind this senseless violence perpetuated by primarily young white males?
Twelve people are now dead, 59 injured among them a 3 month old baby--all because they attended the premiere of a movie based on a comic? The latest release of the Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises had a midnight showing in Aurora, Colorado, when 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes decided to walk into the theater and open fire like he was part of the fictional story on screen and the movie goers merely fictional themselves.
There is something utterly maniacal about this kind of violence, completely beyond the realm of sane and logical interpretation. What fuels this madness, this evil?
Reports say Holmes, who is now in police custody and due in court on Monday, was dressed in bullet proof vests, gas mask, dark clothing, ballistic helmet, ballistic leggings and throat protector. He allegedly opened fire commando style after throwing one smoke and tear gas bombs into the viewing crowd.
He reportedly used up to 4 guns, at least one AK style rifle, an AR15 assault rifle and 2 Glock handguns. Bullets penetrated an adjoining theater, wounding one.
Holmes apartment is currently booby-trapped and authorities said in a press conference Friday afternoon that this is a difficult situation which may take days to neuralize. Strangely, after his bloody rampage inside the theater, the alleged killer was apprenhended outside quietly without resisting and then told police about his bomb-rigged apartment.
Seems odd for one hell-bent on killing to warn law enforcement of what lay ahead at his place of residence.
One witness, Jennifer Seeger told CNN news that she ducked when the gunman pointed his gun directly at her and felt the sting of gun powder on her forehead as he sprayed bullets into people around her. She said she folded herself in a fetal position, then crawled out when he moved up some stairs.
We all remember that other senseless tragedy where 22 year old Jared Lee Loughner opened fired in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2011, killing 6 including a sitting judge and a nine year old young girl and seriously wounding Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford and 11 others.
Then there was Timothy McVeigh, since executed for the terror he unleased in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people and wounding over 800.
Again, what is behind the young male home ground terrorists? Speaking at a press conference one Colorado official said something interesting: "It doesn't look like an incident of terrorism at this time." If it's not terrorism, what is it? If the difinition of terrorism is unleasing acts of senseless mass violence on innocent folks here and around the globe, then this is it. Or is it only when it is ochestrated by 'foreigners'--those people from 'over there?'
When Norway happened in July of 2011, the media immediately thought Islamist terrorists were behind the atrocities. Many stopped calling the mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik a terrorist, when the dust settled and they saw it was a white male. But isn't he a terrorist for murdering 76 people and injuring many more?
We are forever hunting those 'others' considered our biggest threat--namely Islamic terrorists but there is this madness right in our backyard and beyond.
In fact, according to host of CNN's Global Public Square host Fareed Zakaria of the 294 terror attacks committed in Europe in 2009, only one was conducted by Islamists. That's a third of one percent. There were 249 terror attacks in Europe in 2010.
Only three of those attacks were carried out by Islamist terrorists. Again, that's about one percent. Most of the attacks were by separatist groups or anarchists."
Then there are the troubled teens who have committed mass violence in their schools. Again, there were young, white males who walked into schools, heavily armed and shot anyone in sight, some killing themselves after. There was the memorable massacre at Columbine, followed by several more.
This young man's only run-in with the law according to Colorado police, was a speeding violation. He was also intellegient and college educated, reportedly enrolled in a PhD program in neuroscience at the local university but at the point of dropping out. What turns someone like that--a simple speeding ticket holder into a mass murderer?
Was dropping out from the university, a trigger to a psychopathic personality lurking beneath the quiet, smiling eduated exterior? or is there much more to this sinister plot than meets the eyes? Where did he get his ammo, arsenal of weapons and military gear?
Incidentally, we had our resident incendiary loud mouth Rush Limbaugh, whose sole purpose to fame is spewing venomous rhetoric daily from the safe perch behind his radio microphone--say that this latest Batman movie was aimed at hurting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney because one of the vallainous character was named Bain.
Bain is suppose to be taken from Bain Capital, the venture capitalist company Romney headed and is now causing a mounting of trouble for him on the campaign trail.
Is there a connection? There is daily conservative poison irresponsibly pandered for million dollar contracts and partisan politics on talk radio and television shows with unstable anarchists, white supremacists and other crazies listening-- and this can be a dangerous, explosive mix.
Another controversy re-ignited from this tragedy is the control of assault weapons flooding our communities. Any amendment to the Second Amendment is vehemently opposed by pro-NRA, 2nd Amendment supporters who say they rights are not to be tampered with.
Those in favor of some gun control say the madness and violence needs immediate attention from Washington legislators and a degree of change at the federal level.
Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg speaking on Friday, both called for immediate action in curbing the onslaught of weapons they say were meant for combat only. Any gun capable of firing numerous rounds in rapid succession, is a danger to society.
Holmes acquired those assault rifles legally which begs the question: would some form of gun control, prevent these kinds of mass massacre from happening?
Mexican President-Elect Enrique Peña Nieto spoke to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria this week for an interview airing tomorrow, and in a preview released today, Peña Nieto reacts to our Supreme Court upholding parts of Arizona’s controversial SB-1070 law.
While calling the law “discriminatory,” he acknowledged that the solution was making immigration “a decision and not a necessity for Mexicans.”
Zakaria asked Peña Nieto to respond to the Arizona law and explain how, as president of Mexico, his administration would address the immigration problem, particularly the criminal side of it.
He called the law “discriminatory” and argued that said laws “do not recognize the contribution and the value of millions of immigrants” to the American economy.
He added, however, that as President of Mexico, “I understand that Mexico must facilitate conditions for greater economic development through structural reforms, treasury reform, labor reform… in order to generate jobs and great opportunities in our culture.”
The bottom line for him was to make “immigration a decision and not a necessity for Mexicans.”
Mexico's Enrique Peña Nieto called for a "new debate" on the drug war and said the United States must play an important role in that discussion.
The presumptive president-elect spoke this week to Fareed Zakaria in an interviewing airing on this week's "Fareed Zakaria GPS."
"Yes, I do believe we should open up a new debate regarding how to wage war on drug trafficking. Personally, I'm not in favor of legalizing drugs. I'm not persuaded by that as an argument.
However, let's open up a new debate, a review, in which the U.S. plays a fundamental role in conducting this review," said Peña Nieto.
More than 47,500 people have died in drug-related violence since Felipe Calderon, Mexico's current president, made combating cartels a top priority when he took office in 2006.
Peña Nieto has pledged to focus more on reducing violence and less on catching cartel leaders and blocking drugs from reaching the United States.
"What we seek now in our new strategy is to adjust what's been done up until now. It's not a radical change.
It's to broaden the coverage and above all, the emphasis I aspire to of reducing the violence in our country," he told Zakaria.
"I'm persuaded that if we achieve the specialization in the work carried out by the various branches of the federal police and the inspector general's office, waging war on impunity will allow us to combat crime," he said.
The presumptive president-elect also weighed in on Arizona's immigration law, which allows police to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws if "reasonable suspicion" exists that the person is in the United States illegally.
The controversial provision was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
It struck down other parts of the law.
"Clearly, it seems to me that these are discriminatory laws that don't recognize the contribution and the value of millions of immigrants, particularly from my country, who make enormous contributions to the United States' economic development.
It's clear to me that Mexico must facilitate conditions for greater economic development through structural reforms, energy reforms, treasury reform, labor reform, in order to generate jobs and greater opportunities in my country, so that immigration is a decision and not a necessity for Mexicans," he said.
An official tally of returns Friday confirmed Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, as the winner of Mexico's presidential election.
But until the country's electoral tribunal ratifies the results - and challenges are virtually assured - he remains the presumptive president-elect.
Peña Nieto's closest rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has vowed to challenge the results, accusing the PRI of vote-buying, and said that he would take his complaints through the legal system.
The federal electoral tribunal, known as TRIFE, will begin to accept complaints Monday of voting irregularities.
The tribunal will have until September 6 to complete its investigation and ratify - or reverse - the official election results.
Authorities in Tempe, Arizona, dismantled a drug trafficking cell associated with Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, arresting 20 people and seizing three tons of marijuana, 30 pounds of methamphetamine and $2.4 million in cash, police said.
A six-month investigation by Tempe police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency also concluded with the seizure of an airplane, 10 vehicles and 14 firearms, police said Friday.
The cartel delivered illegal drugs in Tempe and branched out to customers in New York, Alabama, California and other states, police said.
"This operation demonstrated a collaborative effort by state and federal law enforcement agencies," Tempe Chief of Police Tom Ryff said in a statement.
The drug trafficking "stretched across the Mexico border and into Arizona and beyond," said Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the DEA's Phoenix office.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico's most powerful drug-trafficking groups, and cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera is widely known as Mexico's most-wanted fugitive.
Forbes magazine has placed him on its list of the world's most powerful people, reporting his net worth at $1 billion as of March.
You've probably read those articles about how, in the United States, minorities are becoming the majority. That's a polite way of describing what is really going on. Namely, that the U.S. population is becoming more Latino and less white. More than any other group, it is Latinos who are driving demographic changes.
Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that, of all the babies born in the United States in 2011, more than half were members of minority groups. Latinos, Asians, African-Americans and other minorities accounted for 50.4% of births last year, marking the first time in U.S. history this has happened.
Immigration is a driving force. So is the fact that Latinos have higher birthrates because they tend to be younger and starting families. According to the report, Latinos have a median age of 27; with whites, it's 42.
When I read these kinds of stories, I wince.
Some people assume that making lawmakers, media and corporations aware of population trends will persuade them to see the value in diversity and cause them to reach out to nonwhite populations. In my experience, it doesn't have that effect at all. People tend to do what they want to do the way they've always done it.
But what you can set your watch by is the backlash to these stories. It's rooted in fear, but also in human nature. No one likes being told they're being displaced or pushed aside, or that they're not going to be as relevant as time goes on.
So when David Bostis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, tells CNN.com as he did recently: "The Republicans' problem is that their voters are white, aging and dying off" and that "there will come a time when (Republicans) suffer catastrophic losses with the realization of the population changes," it is bound to set off shock waves. And it did.
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh saw the CNN story as a threat, and he went ballistic.
"It is clear that this, and other similar stories like this, are meant to serve as a warning to Republicans and conservatives," Limbaugh told his audience of millions. "And the warning is: You are on the wrong side of history. And you are on the wrong side of demographics. You better do what the coming majority wants right now, or you're gonna suffer the consequences. There is an implied threat in this story.
You're getting older. You're white and you're dying off. Pretty soon you're gonna find out what it's been like to not be you."
"That's the implication of the story," Limbaugh insisted. "You've been the majority for all these decades, all these generations, but your time is coming when you're gonna be the minorities and there's gonna be people with majority power over you. So you better learn right. You better change your ways. You better get with the program so that everybody likes you."
As is often the case when Limbaugh charges into matters of race and ethnicity, he has it all wrong. These aren't threats. These are facts. And they're presented not to pressure people to do "what the coming majority wants right now" as much as to highlight the value of doing the right thing by making our institutions more inclusive.
Stories like this are supposed to enlighten us and give us a heads up about what's coming around the corner, so we can take advantage of the trend and not be overrun by it. Elected officials, media companies and the business communities can put off thinking about the future, but they can't escape it.
Meanwhile, what people like Limbaugh seem to be trying to escape is a reckoning for what happened in the past. As he sees it, all this talk about changing demographics is tied to a larger criticism of the United States as having at times fallen short of its own principles of liberty, fairness and equality.
"Part of it is payback because this evil white majority has arranged things so they get all the spoils," he said. "And then whatever they don't want is what gets handed down. Those days are about over, and the big change is coming."
What needs to change is this kind of thinking. It's total nonsense. In nearly 25 years of writing about politics, race and ethnicity, I've never heard any member of a minority group talk about how they're looking forward to "payback" once they're in the majority. Not one.
What I do hear quite a bit is that people of color believe in the greatness of this country, and they want to help write the next chapter in ways that benefit them and their families. They want a seat at the table, not because they feel entitled but because they feel they have something unique and valuable to offer. And they don't want to get even; they just want to get ahead.
What's wrong with that? Nothing.
In fact, it's in keeping with some of this country's greatest traditions. Have no fear. The face of America is changing. But it's heart and soul never will.
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